Rich

Funnily enough, he's a footballer I actually like as well. Not many of them around these days. Same goes for the likes of Campbell, Hyypia and Baines as well. Exciting times, even if everything is just tenuous links at the moment.

Was wondering when we'd get linked with him. Certainly wouldn't be upset if he's as cheap as that and if it meant the end of Stephen Carr.

Yes please, loads of people have wanted him here for years now. Would be excellent with any one of our three current strikers (Owen, Martins or Ameobi). Even for £8m I wouldn't complain, and he's not exactly over the hill. Let's hope his former links with Allardyce will actually play to our advantage and land him here. Owen/Gudjohnsen or Martins/Gudjohnsen looks far better than Owen/Martins in my eyes.

Absolutely. What other choice do we have, for starters? At the end of the season I couldn't see the wood for the trees, I didn't want to - now I cannot wait until August again. Ish nice.

Very good post and exactly how I see things. Will be interesting to see how the manager/takeover affects Oba and Owen and we shouldn't forget the lack of Euro games and Owen's injury-proneness, either. Would be great if we could keep both AND add another quality striker to the pool, but it would be impossible to keep them all happy if they were all fit for an extended period of time together. Which is, of course, extremely unlikely.

Think you're bang-on about Jagielka, although Neville has been fairly impressive this season from what I've seen. I'd have Lescott in for King without hesitation, especially if he's as "crocked" as certain ITK posters on here have told us.

Darren Bent is not a target man, is he? If we have some serious money to splash, then I would hope we'd bring in one of the best "big(ish) man" strikers in the business. Can't see Allardyce fancying the little-men combinations, and it's understandable in the Premiership I suppose, although it would be interesting to see if a sort-of Beardsley/Cole partnership would be successful these days.

If we are splashing the moolah on a striker this summer and if we're keeping Owen, Martins and Ameobi then we surely need to be signing a proper target man more than anything else?

Of course we should hope he's alright... if only to speed-up the takeover. Seriously though, seems as though he's in a bad way and I do hope he sorts his health out. If he does leave then he can probably say he did his utmost to bring success here and it is a shame that he never managed it. However, if he stays and attempts to be an arse about things then my good grace on this matter may take a bit of turn. "NYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Legend.

Questions to Owen at the press conference for tomorrow night about Newcastle were declared "off-limits" according to NUFC.com. Obviously not as reliable as the Bible or anything, but sehr fishy nontheless. Hope he does well tomorrow night of course and I hope he stays. If Shepherd is gone by July, then we might well keep a hold of him and Sam and his staff might get him playing some games for us as well. Imagine that! Not sure I'll actually bother watching this, mind, especially with JJ playing in the middle of the park

Haven't opened the envelope yet myself, no chance I can afford it before June 15th and I had no idea the swipe-card thing had been implemented any more than rumour had it a few months back. Anyone know the last date I can renew?

They need an out-and-out winger imo. Don't think Pennant is the answer and Kewell has flattered to deceive. Someone who can beat a man with skill or pace. Put someone like Kanchelskis (in his pomp) out wide and they'd tear teams to bits. Completely agree with this as well. Liverpool have the foundations of an excellent side but are somewhat "regimented" in their approach, or at least they have been this season. I'm a massive admirer of flair talent in amongst a "team" structure and if Benitez can get a player of the type that Midds is describing then Liverpool could make massive strides next season. However, those sorts of players don't exactly grow on trees, of course. One of the major things with current football that turns me off is all the "workmanlike" teams who seem to rule the day, or seem to be the current trend, Liverpool and Chelsea being the main culprits. Mourinho's lot look a different proposition with a fully fit Robben, in particular, Liverpool need someone of a similar standard I'd say. Liverpool with two top-class wingers would be frightening, with their central options. Probably would never happen with Rafa there/away from home, though.

At least it's over, eh?

Finishing above Spurs.

"Geordie Boy" Lee Clark, surely?

Roeder was given two choices: jump or be pushed. He wisely chose the former but I bet he's getting some cash in his pocket from the club, although not the amount he'd have received had he got the sack. He's been given the chance to maintain his reputation and has taken it, but I'd be weary of calling him "honourable" because of it.

I can't help thinking of "Rimmer Land" off Red Dwarf whenever you post these days, man. World of your own. Although I have to say, I think I generally would be a lot happier in your reality than I am in the genuine article! Can't knock you for bringing hope, I suppose. You're like a beacon in the darkness at times on here.

Its the last bit I need from him for my Balloon ride around the world.

If this turns out to be more hot air from Parky, then I'm heading to Germany and I'm not returning until I have his head on a spike. Failing that, I'm going to investigate into finding an "ignore" function for this particular forum software

They should make the players walk round the pitch and clap us, not the other way around That'd learn 'em.

Was going to post this up as well. Quite a decent little read that possibly offers a fairly more realistic/balanced outlook on the potential appointment of Allardyce than I've seen from anyone on Newcastle-Online so far. When Biffa's in the mood he can still churn-out some quality stuff and his latest match report (Reading) was another pleasure to take-in. "Sitting on the fence" is quite possibly the main thing that a lot of people will take from it and NUFC.com don't really seem to be committing either way. The real question that arises, though, if Roeder does leave are there genuinely better alternatives to Allardyce that we could attract here? Big Sam appeals to me more than anything because of the fact that he'd surely instigate big changes within the club from top-to-bottom, rather than just come in and "manage" like Souness and Roeder have done since Robson. Is there anyone else available who could offer the same?

(Just merged these two topics together, because they were exactly the same and NUFC06's was posted a couple of minutes sooner than James'. Hope it's alreet.) As for the subject matter at hand, it's not surprising to see him covering all the bases in the media, I suppose. He also doesn't say that we definitely wouldn't spend cash on a 30+. Surely if they improve the squad for a season or two then a bit of money would make it worthwhile!? I don't understand his points, sometimes. Crazy bloke.

Assuming Sam Allardyce is indeed appointed as our new manager ... 1. How much time are you willing to give him before you demand success? He will need time, but as long as there are fairly speedy signs of improvement then I think he'll be given enough time to further improve things here if he does come. There are a lot of fundamentals wrong with the club/squad/staff at the minute and there are probably a lot of things, simple things, that Allardyce could do from a fairly early time that would swing the mood into a more optimistic one. Even if a lot of his action is merely talk/planning at the outset, as long as he delivers some feasable manifesto that goes hand-in-hand with what the majority think to be best for NUFC then I think he'd be given at least a season or two. He'd have to go some stretch to do worse than this season, mind. 2. What's the target you set for him? Within a few seasons, if we'd continued to spend fairly big, then we simply have to be looking at challenging Tottenham for 5th - in reality the gap is tiny when compared to the gap between us and the current "top four". Even this season, with Roeder in charge, I can't help but feel we'd have been right up there had we not have been "crippled" by the infamous injuries. Despite us all being fed-up of hearing about it, you simply cannot compensate for missing your best striker (and one of the world's best) for an entire season of football. If Spurs had been without Berbatov, or Blackburn without McCarthy, then they'd be lower/as low than/as us in the table right now. I know it's an easy get-out, but it is a massive factor in how poor this season has been. Still doesn't change the fact that Roeder hasn't done enough on any other fronts to prove he's the right man for the job. He's as clueless as Souness from what I can see. However, you don't get any prizes for 5th, so it would be nice if within 2/3 seasons we were pushing for Champions' League football. 3. If we play ugly, but get results, are you happy? If we play ugly, yet results are not good, will you still be happy? I'm not sure if we've played anything other than "ugly" since towards the end of Bobby Robson's reign at the club and so I'm not sure if anything would really change? I'm expecting by "ugly" you mean direct/long-ball, two tactics that are FAR from ugly to watch when they're causing the opposition numerous problems and causing you to bang the goals in home/away. I cannot see how Allardyce could have us playing any worse or have us any more disorganised than Roeder has this season. To me, being disjointed and disorganised and playing in spells of 10 minutes of good football a game, being generous, is more ugly than playing to a direct gameplan and reaping the rewards of it. People are quick to forget that three of our four best Premiership seasons have come with a fairly direct style of football in tow. We have enough quality footballers at the club to make it so that it won't be purely God-awful anyway. 4. If Sam Allardyce decides to pick a fight (verbal or whatever) with someone (FA, Arsene Wenger, Roy Keane, Freddy Shepherd), will you support him? Well this is fairly ambiguous because it would depend on who was in the right, but if he's fighting his/our corner then it would be madness not to support him. 5. Will you applaud the board if the appointment of Sam Allardyce turns out to be a good one, eventually? Of course I will. They don't have an easy job, contrary to popular belief, and if they get the appointment after Roeder right (no matter how obvious it is) and then allow for a massive upheavel of club "strategy" (if we have one) and adhere to a Sam-led change of tact/direction then they will undoubtedly deserve credit for finally realising the error of their ways. I stand by the belief that a leopard doesn't change it's spots and I cannot see Allardyce having the freedom here that he did at Bolton under Gartside, which does worry me if he does end up here, but surely Shepherd realises it's getting to the point of boom or bust now. Say what you want about the Fat Man, but he'll probably be far more flexible now that it's beginning to be his neck on the line than he ever has been in the past. 6. Will you slag the board, if the appointment of Sam Allardyce turns out to be a sad tradegy? Again, it depends on how things go. If Shepherd appoints Allardyce and gives him cash and allows him free reign to do things EXACTLY as he did at Bolton (he pays the wages for massive numbers of new techniques and new backroom staff) and he allows Sam to bring in the players he wants to bring in within the budget, then how can we possibly slag the Board off for that? In that respect they would have done everything in their power to make Allardyce a success at the club and surely they couldn't be slagged further for it. However, if Allardyce was appointed and WAS NOT given some "slack on the lead" as to tackle the job in his way that was successful at Bolton then I'd be at the end of my tether with the current board myself. If Allardyce is brought in, he has to be fully supported if he wants to completely change the structure/philosophy of the club on a squad/staff level. 7. If Sam Allardyce turns out to be a success, will you gloat that you have always wanted him to be our manager? Well, probably, if there are some mongs who jump on the bandwagon when they've never supported Allardyce in the past. It's been clear for quite a long time now that Sam Allardyce would be a great solution to the current problems at NUFC if he was brought here and given instructions to "fix" the problems that have blighted us in recent seasons. Too many people think Bolton play shite football and are an ugly team without any real experience of them. There's no doubt that Allardyce has been a wanker in the past and probably still is a wanker today, but at least he'd be our wanker. 8. If Sam Allardyce does not turn out to be a success, will you gloat that you have always NOT wanted him to be our manager? Erm, probably not, because this message board has a fairly useful "search" function that could cause me some problems if I did. 9. Does it matter if Allardyce's recruitments are mainly foreigners, regardless if he delivers results? No, of course not. The squad is already massively pro-English and a lot of the English players we do have are as mercenary as they come, at times. I'd like it if we kept an English spine to the side, if at all possible, in regards to having at least one English/British/Irish player in the key areas of the field (GK, CB, CM, CF) but I couldn't complain if we were bringing in foreign players who: A) cost less than their British counterparts. B) were better footballers than their British counterparts and C) wanted to play for NUFC more than their British counterparts. The problem comes, and always has done, when people sign foreigners for the wrong reasons and when the player themselves is no better than someone they could have had for the same money from the same shores. 10. Will you be happy to trust the club's sizable (assumption) on Allardyce's hand? If this means what I think it does, in being that will I trust the club in thinking that Allardyce could change the philosophy/structure of the club for the better and backing him with staff/cash/players, then of course I'd be happy. Shepherd knows the appointment after Roeder has to be a good one and I think/hope if it is Allardyce that he'll be given his due from the board/club and that they support him in every which way. If it goes wrong, it goes wrong, but if this does happen it HAS to happen after the board/club has given them support in every aspect of his job. Too many times we've seen managers hung out to dry by the current regime, it cannot be allowed to happen again, not this time.

That bit was funny. Talking about commentators that "Dare they!! Dare they!!" thing his side kick kept saying when Osusuna were attacking in the final minutes was so annoying. He was doing that with Tottenham as well, the annoying fecker. "DARE THEY!?!" Would have probably shot his load if they did.

David Pleat is fucking mental. "I've never really seen that colour on a goalkeeper before..." "What? Pink?" "I think they call it aubergine, don't they?" "(Laughs) Aubergine is a completely different colour, David." "I must have got my colours mixed up there. I like green sweaters on goalkeepers anyway." Something along those lines, at least. Couldn't help but laugh. Sevilya!